Thursday’s Campaign Round-Up, 6.19.14

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that won’t necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Rep. Vance McAllister (R-La.) had signaled his intention to step down at the end of this term, but he’s apparently changing his mind, saying “leaning 55 to 45 percent” in favor of seeking re-election. McAllister is perhaps best known for getting caught kissing a woman staffer who was not his wife.

* In Nebraska, PPP found Pete Ricketts (R) leading this year’s gubernatorial race, but his support is fairly weak following a bruising primary. He leads Chuck Hassebrook (D) by only four points (thanks to reader D.C. for the tip).

* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently called Rep. Cory Gardner, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Colorado, a “real loser” at a private event. Asked this week if he’d apologize, Reid told reporters, “I regret a lot of things I’ve said over the years, but Mark Udall is a fine candidate.” Udall, of course, is the incumbent Democratic senator who’ll face Gardner in the fall.

* The Iowa Republican Party establishment has “officially wrested control” of the state GOP apparatus. It had been under the control of Rand Paul supporters. Among other things, the development may lead to the end of Ames Straw Poll.

* Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D), who’s rumored to be interested in a possible presidential campaign, said yesterday Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has been overly cozy with the intelligence community, “standing under the streetlight with her dress pulled all the way up over her knees.” Schweitzer went on to say he thinks House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) seems gay according to his personal “gaydar.”

* Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is intervening in Oklahoma’s Republican U.S. Senate primary, filming an ad in support of T.W. Shannon. The ad is being aired by the Senate Conservatives Fund. Much of the party establishment is backing Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.).

* Will Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) seek re-election in 2016. It doesn’t sound like it: “I’m going to wait until the 2014 election is over, and then I’m going to see what I should do. I’ve never been in a less productive time in my life than I am right now, in the United States Senate.”